LA CONDAMINE, CHARLES MARIE, was born at Paris on the 28th of January 1701. Upon leaving college he entered the army as a volunteer, and forthwith proceeded to take part in the siege of Rome, where his intrepidity soon rendered him conspicuous; but on the restoration of peace, finding the expectations of promotion which ho had previously entertained not likely to be realised, he quitted the military profession, and in 1730 entered tho Academy of Sciences as assietantohernist ("adjoint-chemisto "). Shortly after this he embarked in an expedition to the Mediterranean, having for Its object the explo ration of the coast, of Asia and Africa, and while absent visited Tress, Cyprus and Jerusalem, and passed five months at Coustautiuople. Upon his return to Paris the Academy were busily occupied in die cussing the arrangements for • voyage to the equator for the purpose of measuring an are of the meridian, with a view to the more accurate determination of the dimensions and figure of the earth. From the first mention of this project La Condamine directed his attention to every branch of science connected with it. "The very desire," says Condorcet, "of being connected with so perilous an undertaking, made him an astronomer." His proposal. having been accepted by the Academy, who felt how much his natural zeal and courage might tend to the success of the expedition, he again (1735) took leave of his country in company with Messieurs Bongucr and Galin, and pro ceeded to Peru. The fatigue and hardship. which they bad to encounter till their return in 1743, and which were heightened by the discord and jealousy which rose up among them, have been already noticed. (Bonotosn.) Upon his return he published 'An Account of a Voyage up the Amazon,' 1745; and in the some year, an nbridsed account of his 'Travels in South America.' Ilia work entitled ' The Figure of the Earth as determined by the Observations of Messieurs de la Condamine and Bouguer,' did not appear till 1749. In 1747 ho
proposed to his government the adoption of the length of the seconds irendulum as an invariable unit of measure. In 1748 ho was eleet-d a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, and in 1760 a member of the Academy of Sciences of Paris. In 1763 La Condamine and Lalande formed part of the deputation appointed by the Academy to be present at the making of the Report of the Royal Society concern ing the inventions of Harrison for facilitating the finding of the longitude. lie died on the 4th of February 1774, while undergoing an experimental operation for the removal of a malady contracted in, Peru. Always occupied, be appears to have needed time to feel hia misfortunes, and notwithstanding his sufferings he appears never to have been unhappy. His wit, the amiability of his temper, and the celebrity of hie travels, made him many friends, and his humour was generally successful in blunting the attacks of enmity. His curiosity and love of distinction urged him on in the pursuit of information, and ultimately led to his carryiog on a correspondence with the learned of all nations upon almost every subject.
The principal works of La Condamine which have not already been mentioned are, 'Measure of the First Three Degrees of the Meridian in the Southern Heroispliere,' 1751 ; 'History of the Pyramids of Quito,' 1751; ' Journal of the Voyage to the Equator,' 1751 ; besides uumeroua scientific memoirs in the Transactions of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, and in those of the Academy of Berlin.
(Condercet, doge de la Condamine, Paris, 1804, tome i. ; Biot, Notice of the Life of Condamine; Biog. Univ. ; The Works of Conda mine ; Thomson, Mt. of the Royal Society.)